Household refrigerating apparatus



E. T. WILLIAMS HOUSEHOLD REFRIGERATING APPARATUS name 29 1926.

Filed Oct. 15, 1923 gvwcutoz flu are 17/47/6075 951 M aum Patented June 29, 1926.

UNITED STATES EDWARD T. WILLIAMS, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

HOUSEHOLD REFRIGERATING APPARATUS.

Application flied October 15, 1923, Serial No. 668,507.

This invention relates to refrigerating systems for small consumers, as for example in private houses, and its chief object is to provide a self-contained system of the utmost simplicity and compactness occupying a minimum amount of floor space, so that it may be installed in a pantry, entry, or small kitchen, for example, without taking up more room than an ordinary refrigerator or ice-box of equal or even less refrigerating capacity. I V

In carrying out my invention in the preferred manner I employ a refrigerator which may be of ordinary type but is provided at the bottom with a low compartment in which the major portion of the refrigerating apparatus is housed. This compartment has a removable panel or door at the'front or at one or both sides, or all three, to afford access to the interior and permit removal of the apparatus when necessary or desirable. The bottom or floor of the compartment is preferably in the form of a grld or platform composed of slats, on which the housed parts are mounted and which can be slid out and in on suitable rails. This slatted floor or platform is supported above the floor of the room,and the space thus provided between the two is open at the front or one or both sides or all three to permit free entry of air. The air thus admitted rises through the slatted platform and flows around and through the apparatus, absorbing heat therefrom, then issues from one or more openings in the compartment walls at the top thereof into one or more wide, fiat flues at the back or sides of the refrigerator, which carry the' air upwardly and discharge it into the atmosphere at or near the top of the refrigerator.

There is thus a continual circulation of air.

from the floor of the room, where the air is always coolest, through the compartment.

in which the compressor, condenser and motor are housed, to the atmosphere above the refrigerator. Though the flue or flues are quite fiat, in most cases no morethan an inch and a quarter deep from front to back, their considerable width gives them a relatively large capacity and hence a sufiicient volume of air for efi'ective cooling of the refrigerating apparatus can be caused to flow without producing a strong draft at the flue outlet or outlets. The expansion chamber immersed in brine in a suitable brine tan is located in the storage compartment trated in the accompanying drawings, in

which Fig. 1 is a vertical section of the refrigerator from front to rear, showing the lower compartment and apparatus housed therein, and the upper compartment or chamber for storage of food.

Fig. 2 is a sectional plan view of a modification, on a plane indicated by the line 22 of Fig. 1.

The refrlgerator shown at 10, is divided into upper and lower compartments or chambers 11, 12, the former having front, side and rear walls, and top and bottom, of the usual heat insulated construction. The bottom of storage chamber 11 forms the to of the lower compartment, as indicate The front Wall of the latter is a removable or hinged panel 13, and the bottom or floor is in the form of a platform or grid 14, composed of spaced slats, as shown, supported an inch or more above the floor 15 of the room by side rails 16 on which the platform can be slid out of and into the compartment when the front is open. In the rear wall of the compartment, at the top thereof, is a transverse outlet opening 17 for the air entering through the slatted floor or platform 14, as indicated by the arrows. This outlet extends preferably across the full width of the compartment, and opens into a flue 18 at the back, formed by a broad thin panel or plate 19 of sheet metal, pulp-board, or other suitable material. In general this flue need not be more than an inch or an inch and a quarter deep, from front to back,

for a refrigerator affording, say, seven cubic feet of clear storage-space, 1f 1t 1s sufliclently wide, preferably about as wide as the.

The rest of the refrigerating apparatus, comprising a condenser 24, a compresser 25, and a motor 26 to drive the latter, are housed in the lower compartment 12 and may be fastened to the removable floor 14 thereof. Refrigerant liquefied in the condenser is delivered to the expansion chamber by a pipe 27, and refrigerant evaporated in the expansion chamber is conveyed by a pipe 28 to the low pressure side of the compresser, where it is compressed and is then delivered by :1 pi e 29 to the condenser. Preferably the con enser is of the air-cooled type, as indicated, the flow of air through the compartment bein suflicient to cool the condenser to the lique ying temperature, especially when a refrigerant such as ethyl chlorid is used.

Shelf-supports may be provided on the sides of the storage compartment, as in dicated at 30. The upper of these may be employed to carry a suitable support for ice, having the usual drain, not shown, for use if the refrigerating apparatus should be out of operation for any material period, as by reason of removal for adjustment or repair, or the like.

In most cases the refrigerator will stand with its back against the wall of the room, so that usually the most convenient location for the flue 18 is at the back, as in Fig. 1,

but it may be at either side, or one may be provided on each side, 'or on both sides and at the back, as in Fig. 2, but ordinarily a single flue will be sufficient, even though, as in Fig. 1, no fan for creating or aiding the draft, is provided.

All six walls of the upper chamber or storage compartment 11 are thoroughly heat-insulated, as indicated by the thickness of these walls in the drawing, but such insulation of the lower compartment is unnecessary, and indeed undesirable not only from the standpoint of cost but also for the reason that when the machine is in opera tion the temperature in the lower compartment is always higher than that of the room outside, due to the heat liberated by the compression and condensation of the refrigerant.

It is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the construction herein specifically illustrated and described but can be embodied in other forms without departure from its spirit as defined by the following claims.

I claim:

1. In a household refrigerating apparatus, a refrigerator having a storage chamber and a compartment below the latter, the compartment aving in its bottom a plurality of air inlet openings to distribute incoming air, and having an outlet opening at the rear, the refrigerator having a wide shallow flue at its rear, extending upwardly from said air outlet opening to carry air therefrom, an expansion chamber in the re frigerator outside of the said compartment, and compressing and condensing means connected with the expansion chamber and housed in the said compartment to be cooled by air flowing through the same.

2. In a household refrigerating apparatus, Y

a refrigerator having a storage chamber and a compartment below the latter, and having a wide, shallow, vertical flue extending along the rear wall entirely outside of the refrigerator, said compartment having a bottom composed of spaced slats to provide a plurality of air inlet openings and having at its rear top in the wall adjacent to the flue an air outlet opening communicating therewith, whereby air can flow through the compartment from the inlet openings in the bottom thereof to the outlet opening and be carried off by the flue, an expansion chamber in the refrigerator outside of the said compartment, and compressing and condensing means connected with the expansion chamber and housed in said compartment so as to be cooled by air flowing upwardly from the air inlet openings in the bottom of the compartment.

In testimony whereof I hereto afiix my signature.

EDWARD T. WILLIAMS. 

